


Dream Team (Steve and Robin are BFFs)

by NoirAngel011



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Best Friends, Comforting Steve, Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Late Nights, Lesbian Character, Nightmares, Sickfic, Skating, Soft Robin, Steve taking care of robin, Storytime, Sweet, dream team, upside down - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-23 13:42:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19702525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoirAngel011/pseuds/NoirAngel011
Summary: Steve and Robin are best friends. Antics ensue.





	1. You're Still Robin, and We Love You

Robin was scared. She wasn't scared often, but this was something that terrified her.

Hawkins wasn't a great town. People were closed-minded and mean. That's why Robin kept to herself. Nobody could know her secret.

But Steve, he was different. He was caring, he was nice, and if he could take care of six kids and keep them from getting killed, he must have some sort of life skills.

He had been telling her about his crush. It was blatantly obvious that Robin was his crush. She had to tell him, she had no other choice.

Sitting on the cold bathroom floor, telling him that she liked girls, her look of desperation, his look of heartbreak, Robin had never been more scared.

She knew that once upon a time he had been a racist, mean homophobic. But now, she tried to shove that thought away. He was surprised more than mad.

He looked heartbroken because he liked her, and now she was telling him that she was a lesbian. That felt worse than getting beat up by Billy.

Steve had been accepting of her, and that made her so so happy. Now though, she was scared again.

The party was... interesting to say the least. Robin had no idea how they would react.

But now, Steve was asking her to come out to all of them. Before the Byers and El moved away next month.

"It's okay. They're not going to be like your parents" Steve put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Robin was sitting on his couch and Steve was kneeled down in front of her.

Robin had told Steve about her parents one late night a week ago. About how they hated her when she came out and when the hit her for being gay. That's what prompted him wanting her to tell everyone.

"Listen-" Steve sat down next to Robin and took her hands in his. "You don't have to tell them today. You don't have to tell them tomorrow. I'm not going to make you come out to anyone, ever. When you're ready, Robin. When you're ready I'm here for you. Kay?"

Robin smiled at him. There were tears in her eyes. "You're such a dingus." She laughed. Steve smiled. Robin leaned forward and hugged Steve. He hugged her back.

"Okay. I'll tell them soon. When I'm ready." She smiled. Steve nodded before standing up and scooping her up off the couch and tossing he rover his shoulder.

"Hey! Put me down dingus!!" Robin laughed, kicked her legs in an attempt to escape Steve's grasp.

"Ugh you're the worst, " She grumbled. Steve lowered her so she was looking him in the face and her feet dangled above the ground.

"You know that I'm awesome, " Steve set her down and patted head. Robin scowled at him then broke out into giggles and Steve joined her.

...

One Week Later,

Robin finally thought she was ready. She had been contemplating it all week. She made a pros and cons list. She made a flow chart. She called her cousin in Flordia who was the only person in her family that accepted her. And she was finally ready to come out to the rest of the party.

She followed Steve into his living room. Everyone was there and talking, playing games and eating tons of junk food. She watched Dustin pour 3/4 a bag of jelly beans into his mouth.

She sat down next to Steve. Robin pressed up against him and felt him snake his arm around her in support.

Steve looked down at her and they passed a message through their eyes. 'I'm ready' Robin mouthed. Steve nodded.

"Hey, guys! Can we get quiet for a minute?!" Steve called to the kids over the ruckus. Miraculously, everyone stopped talking and turned to look at the pair on the couch.

Nine sets of eyes looking back at Robin. Steve took her right hand in his and she clutched it tightly.

"Robin has something she wants to say. You guys have to be quiet though." Steve shushed the kids. Robin's eyes darted over the crowd.

"Well- uh I- I wanted to tell you guys... th-that I'm... lesbian, " Robin barley whispered the last word. She kept her head low, clutching Steve's hand is right the thought she was going to cut off the circulation.

The crowd of kids was silent. Mike, El, Dustin, Lucas, Max, Will, Nancy, Jonathon, and Joyce all stayed completely noiseless. Robin buried her face into Steve's side and began to cry silently.

All at once it seemed, the kids processed this information and sprang up from their seats, running over to Robin. They all sat around her as she cried. Will was the first one to hug her, and the other five followed suit quickly. Nancy, Jonathon, and Joyce joined them soon after.

When they all eventually pulled off of her Robin lifted her head. She released Steve's hand and he reached up to her face, cupping it gently and wiping at her tears.

Everyone in the room was smiling at Robin and she matched them. She felt so safe here, with all the people who accepted her and loved her.

The kids moved off the couch to give her room. Joyce took a seat on the opposite side of her.

"Don't you worry, honey. You're still the same girl that you were yesterday, nothing's changed now. And most importantly we still love you" Joyce said as she ran a loving hand up and down Robin's back. Robin smiled.

There was a chorus of "Yeah"s and " Of course we still love you"s throughout the crowd. 

"Thanks, guys. That means a lot to me." Robin smiled and the kids copied. For once she felt safe with them, and she could take on the world with all of them at her side.


	2. How Did You End Up In A Ditch, Dingus?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve takes a roll into a ditch. Robin is not impressed. Steve learns something new about her and teaches her something new.

Robin could not find Steve, anywhere.

She had checked his house, her house, the mall, Dustin's house, the Byers house, the park, even the arcade. But she couldn't find him anywhere.

Robin had just about giving up hope on finding Steve when she heard a scream. She ran towards the sound, down a road lined with flowers and grass and down to a ditch the separated the dead-end road from a field.

Steve was laying face down in the ditch.

"Steve." Robin crossed her arms over her chest. Steve looked up at her with a sheepish look on his face.

"Uhh- Hi Robin." He looked up at her and cringed at her fuming face.

"Do you want to tell me why I've been looking for you for the past two hours and I find you face first in a ditch? Robin stared down at him like someone who found their dog going through the trash.

Then she noticed the roller skates.

Steve was wearing roller skates. Robin rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Why were you out here roller skating alone?" She asked. She made no attempt to help him up and he just laid there.

"Well, I was coming I over to your place and I got distracted. Also, my car broke down so my only other means of transportation is Max's skateboard and no way I'm getting on that death trap, so yeah, roller skates, " Steve rambled on and on. Robin had tuned him out as she walked from the edge of the road down the hill to Steve.

"Get up, dingus, " Robin said as she held out her hand to Steve. He took it and pulled himself up, his skates clanging as he walked back up the hill following a dead silent Robin.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked her as they reached the road. He skated easily, putting on his breaks when she didn't follow him.

"Let's just go." Robin pushed past him and stomped up the road, grabbing her bike and riding toward the direction of her house. Steve skated after her.

"Robin! Wait!" Steve called after her. He couldn't skate as fast as she could bike and he had a hard time keeping her in his eyesight.

When he reached her house she was sitting in the steps that led to the front porch. She was a twirling a lone piece of grass in between her thumb and forefinger.

He skated along the driveway and maneuvered around her bike that had been thrown down in front of the porch. He skated over and plopped down beside her. She scooted away from him a little.

"What's wrong? Why are you so mad? What did I do?" Steve reached for her hand and she yanked it away, turning her back on Steve a little.

"It's not fair, " Robin mumbled quietly, Steve almost couldn't hear her. He rested a hand on her shoulder and this time she didn't move away.

"What's not fair?" Steve rubbed her shoulder lightly. She scooted over closer to him.

"I can never do the things everyone else can. Everybody makes fun of me." Robin dropped the shredded grass and crossed her arms over her chest again.

"What- no way. You can do all the things everyone else wishes they could do. You speak four languages Robin, Four! You play three instruments, you translated a Russian code in less than a day and deciphered it even faster. You are so cool, Robin. Everyone in school wishes that they could be as smart, as funny, as nice, and as awesome as you." Steve looked down at Robin. She was smiling with tears in her eyes.

"I still can't do all the physical stuff they do. No matter how smart I am, " Robin sounded so dejected that Steve just wanted to hug her and make all the pain go away.

"Like what, Robin?" Steve reached down and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. 

She pointed down at his skates.

"I can't roller skate." Her head hung low as she felt super embarrassed admitting something like that to Steve.

"Oh. Well, why don't I teach you?" Steve rubbed her back lovingly as Robin blinked the tears out of her eyes.

"Really, you'd do that for me!?" Robin sounded so hopeful. Steve nodded.

"Of course." Steve started untying his skates. "We're the same size, these will for you" He took them off and handed them to Robin. She slid off her converse and slipped into the skates.

She stood up on the path wobbly. Steve stood next to her and took her hand.

"Now, let's start with the basics," Steve said.

And by the end of the day, Robin could roller skate.


	3. Dammit, I Told You Not To Go Outside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin catches strep. Steve takes care of her. Friendship fluff.

"Harrington house." Steve had been woken up by the phone ringing next to his bed. He heard a small cough over the line.

"Steve..." Robin sniffled. Steve jumped, springing up from his bed. 

"Robin, what's wrong? Are you okay, are you hurt?!" Steve was in full-on mom-mode now. He was protective over the whole party, but Robin especially. She was his best friend, yeah. But her home life wasn't great. Her parents and brother hated her and Steve always tried to protect her. 

"No, I'm not hurt." Robin sounded so weak, Steve was skeptical.

"Then what's wrong?" Just as Steve asked that Robin broke out in coughs. She groaned, her throat burning.

"Sick, " she mumbled. Steve was already getting dressed one-handed. 

"I'll be over there in twenty minutes. Hang tight, Rob." Steve didn't wait for her to answer as he hung up and finished getting dressed.

He ran downstairs and into the kitchen. He grabbed a shopping bag from The Gap in the garage. He grabbed a bottle of ice water from the fridge and a can of chicken and noodle soup. He ran to the bathroom and found a thermometer that had never even been opened. He found some cough and fever medicine in the top bathroom cabinet and tossed it in the bag.

He grabbed his keys and slipped on his shoes. He grabbed his bag and ran out to his car.

Steve drove over to Robin's house slightly above the speed limit. He knew her family was out of town and she would be alone. It was December and the snow was falling lightly, but he was sure it would pick up later on in the day.

Steve ran up the path and up the front steps, digging out her spare key from under the potted plant. He unlocked the door and slipped inside, locking it behind him.

"Robin! It's Steve!" Steve called as he took off his shoes and his coat, leaving them in the entryway. He got no response and hurried up the stairs.

He knocked on her bedroom door gently. In response, he got a weak and strained "come in." 

Steve opened her door to find his best friend curled up into a tiny ball on her bed. Her hair was thrown up into a lazy ponytail and her nose and cheeks were flushed red against her super pale skin.

Robin looked up at him for a second before burying her head back down into the covers. Steve set down his bag and walked over to her. He sat down on the edge of the mattress next to her head.

He ran his fingers through her hair gently. She sniffled.

"You were fine yesterday, what happened?" Steve asked. Robin looked up at him.

"Good question." She said before laying her head on his lap. Steve has only ever seen Robin so touchy like this once before and that was when she got a concussion because she tripped over a rock and fell down a hill and hit her head on a tree.

"It's because you walked home, isn't it? You should have just let me give you a ride home but you insisted. And now you're sick." Steve questioned her, but he knew she wasn't listening. Robin was completely zoned out, staring at the purple wall blankly.

"What all hurts? Steve asked her as he dragged a hand through her soft dirty blonde hair. She nuzzled into him.

"Head. Throat. Keep coughing." She kept it short. It really hurt to talk. Steve hummed.

“I brought you some soup if you’re hungry,” Steve said as he pointed over to the bag. Robin glanced up and nodded lightly.

“Yeah.” Robin looked ready to pass out at any moment. There was no way Steve was going to make her walk all the way downstairs and the kitchen. He gently scooped Robin up into his arms. He kept the blanket draped over her and grabbed up his bag.

He carried her carefully down the stairs and into the kitchen. Robin didn’t object and he set her down at the kitchen table, letting her curl back up into her cocoon, resting her head on the table.

“Is chicken noodle fine?” Steve asked, pulling the can out of the bag.

“Hmm?” Robin hadn’t been listening to anything since the came downstairs.

“I asked if chicken noodle was fine?” Steve set the can down and walked over to her. He rested a hand on her forehead. 

“Damn, Rob you’re burning up.” Steve left his hand there, Robin seemed to lean into the cold touch. Steve realized that she was a lot sicker than he originally thought.

He remembered the fever medicine in his bag and left Robin for a second to go grab it. He grabbed the water bottle and medicine out of his bag.

He dumped out two pills into his hand and walked back over to Robin.

“Here. Take this, you’ll feel better.” Steve held the pills out to her and set the water bottle down, twisting the cap off. Robin pushed herself up slowly. She took the medicine and grabbed the water bottle shakily.

“Careful,” Steve said as he almost dropped the water bottle. She tossed the medicine into her mouth and Steve held that water bottle up to her lips.

Once she had managed to swallow the pills Steve moved away the water and put the cap back on. He left it on the table and walked back over to the island.

“You still hungry?” He asked her, picking back up the can of soup. She nodded her head as she laid it back down on the cold wood of the kitchen table.

Steve pulled off the top of the can and poured the contents out into a bowl. He popped it into the microwave. While he was waiting for it to finish he walked back over to Robin. She followed Steve with her eyes, watching his every move.

Soon the timer dinged and he grabbed a spoon from the drawer and brought it over to Robin.

He sat across from her as Robin picked at the soup. At least she was eating it. She maybe got down half of it in fifteen minutes. Steve rambled on the entire time, trying to get a laugh out of his sick friend. He was successful a handful of times, making her crack a smile or giggle lightly.

Eventually, Robin set down her spoon and pushed the bowl away.

“I don't want anymore,” She said, but her voice was strained and coarse. Steve felt bad for her.

He nodded and took her bowl, going to find a container to put it away in. Steve glanced back at her and Robin had her head back on the table, resting on her shaking arms.

He dug up a plastic container and poured the leftover soup into it. He placed the lid on it and put it in the fridge for later. Steve walked back over to Robin.

“Wanna go watch TV?” He asked her. She nodded her head, before whimpering as her head pounded. Steve’s heart shattered at seeing Robin so weak like this. She was normally super strong and independent, but now she could barely even talk.

Steve picked Robin back up. He carried her into the living room and laid her down on the couch. He opened up the VHS cabinet and began looking for a movie to watch.

“The Breakfast Club or Back to the Future?” He held up the two movies. She looked up at him and shrugged.

Steve took that as “You choose” and placed back The Breakfast Club.

He turned on the movie and came back over to the couch. Steve sat down next to Robin and she laid her head on his shoulder. She tugged the blanket around her tighter and shivered. Dang, that fever was bad.

“You must have some type of strep,” Steve said, running a hand through her hair again. Robin curled into him tighter and let her eyes fall closed.

“You can sleep if you want,” Steve said. Robin fixed herself quickly into a position she could sleep in and was asleep in minutes.

“Get well soon, Robin,” Steve whispered as she drifted off, deciding to sleep some himself. He wrapped an arm around her tighter and leaned his head back, dozing off into a dreamless slumber.


	4. This Town Is Insane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve tells Robin about he upside down. Request from The_Bisexual_From_Hell

"Steve?" Robin plopped down on the curb next to Steve. They were outside his house, enjoying the sunlight and warmth of the fading summer.

"Yeah, Rob?" Steve slung an arm around her in the best friends gesture. 

"I still don't have any idea what happened in July. Like, I know that there were Russians under Starcourt. But, where did that monster come from? Who is El? What happened to Billy and Hopper? I don't understand any of it!" Robin was starting off at the sunset. Steve pursed his lips.

"It's a long story. How much do you want to know?" Steve played with her hair as they watched the sky. She didn't pull away, surprisingly, like she did most of the time he got too touchy.

"Everything, Steve. I want to know everything."

"It all started when Will went missing in 83" Steve started.

"Damn, that long ago. This town has been haunted for two years and I had no idea?" Robin but in.

"Silence, let me tell my story." Steve shushed her placing a finger over her lips. She chuckled and pushed his hand away.

“It turns out that there’s another dimension parallel to ours.” Steve leaned back, propping himself up on his elbows. Robin copied him.

“The kids call it the upside-down. That gate that we saw at Starcourt is an entrance to it.” Robin nodded along.

“Have you ever heard of MK-ultra?”Steve turned to look at the blonde. Robin nodded again.

“Didn’t they, like, experiment on people to try to give them psychic powers but instead they fried their brains?” Robin remembered reading a book on it in seventh grade.

“Yeah. Well, El’s mom was in that study and she didn’t know she was pregnant. But after that when El was born the doctors took her away to test on her and told her mom she miscarried. Her name is actually Jane.” Steve placed a hand on Robin’s knee and she scooted closer to him.

“Where did El come from?” Robin was confused, how did you get El from Jane?

“I’m getting there. She was locked in a lab for her entire life, used as a lab rat and abused. They called her Eleven. She was the eleventh test subject. When she escaped, mike found her and started calling her El. At least that’s what I heard from Nancy.”

“That’s evil. That is so wrong to do to a little kid.” Robin shook her head in disgust.

“You remember when Will went missing and he died and came back to life, right?”

“Yeah, everyone in Hawkins remembers that it was the most interesting thing to ever happen in this town,” Robin remembered the day that Will came back to life. She had watched it on the news with her brother.

“He actually didn’t die. He got kidnapped by a monster from the upside-down and the body they found was actually stuffed, created by the lab to cover up their mistake. Because they knew about the upside-down, they were the ones who forced El to open the gate.” Steve explained. Robin tried her best to follow. Steve wasn’t a great storyteller.

Robin shivered in the November cold and Steve pulled off his jacket, slinging it over her shoulder and wrapping and arms around her. He pulled her closer to him.

“Okay, yeah. She can like, spy on people, right? Is that how she opened the gate?” Robin was catching onto what she could, trying to piece together a cohesive story.

“Close, the crazy guy she called ‘Papa’ was trying to make her spy on Russian, but she found and upside down monster instead and she got scared and accidentally opened a gate,” Robin nodded.

“Hold up, how do you know all this? You were a douche bag in 83. You wouldn’t have helped out these kids with government conspiracies,” Robin chimed in, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I got the details from Mike, just sit and listen.” Steve pulled her back down into him, Robin not objecting. It was cold and Steve was warm.

“But, here’s where it gets interesting. Once Will was back, the monster crossed into our world and tried to kill El, but she stopped it and killed it with her powers, getting herself transported to the upside-down. She escaped and Hopper found her, where he hid her in that cabin until last October when she escaped and ran to go find her mom.” 

“Did she find her?”

“Yes, but not important. She came back to Hawkins eventually, but before that, Dustin found a creature in his trash can. Turns out, it was a monster from the upside-down. We found out that there were tunnels that led into the upside-down. So the kids and I went down there and set it on fire,” Steve tried to keep it short so they could go inside, but there was just so much to tell.

“As you do.” Robin shrugged like that was the most normal part of the story.

El came back and we realized that she had to close the gate. It was the weirdest thing. She walked in and I was like ‘Who is this weird-ass child and how did she just kill a monster with her mind’. Hopper went to Hawkins’ lab with her and they closed it. The lab got shut down after like four people died. We all thought it was over-

“-Until this summer” Robin finished. Steve nodded.

“The mind flayer possessed will last year, and we had to exercise it out of him. That’s how the kids knew when the mind flayer came back, Will was still attached to it in a way. But now, it crossed into our world and latched onto Billy, and they used the flayed to put it back together to try and kill El,”

“Because she was the only one who could stop it,” Robin finished again. She was good at puzzles.

“But Billy sacrificed himself, killing the monster. I guess the Russians were trying to rebuild the gate. I really have no idea. But Hopper died when Joyce closed the gate because he was in the blast zone. That’s really all she said.”

Steve was gently petting Robin’s hair. She was starting to fall asleep.

“That’s weird. Hopefully, it never happens again,” Robin said as she yawned. Steve smiled at his best friend.

“I hope it doesn’t either,” Steve said as he picked Robin up, carrying her into the house. They sat down on the couch together, Steve flicking on the TV to a random soap opera. Robin was asleep in minutes. It was going to be a while before she understood the upside down, but she knew she would get there someday.


	5. Cold, Windy Nights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin has nightmares and Steve soothes her.

_They beat him. They tugged out his hair. They cut his skin and pulled it away from his body. They yanked out his fingernails. They broke his ankles so he couldn't walk._

_Steve screamed the whole time._

_Robin was tied up in the corner. Watching the torture. Occasionally, they would turn to her and ask her who they worked for, that if she told them they would stop hurting her friend. Every time she told them the truth, and they never believed her._

_Then it stopped. Steve stopped screaming. And the guards walked away. The world faded and suddenly Robin was laying on the ground of a new room._

_Steve was gone and Robin was alone. She was alone and had her hands tied behind her back and her knees taped together. The door opened and a guard wheeled in a coffin-sized box._

_Robin screamed. She knew what was in that box, or rather who. But the Russian soldier showed her anyway. The lifeless, pale, dead body of her only friend. And Robin screamed._

Robin shot up in her bed, screaming. She started crying, pulling her knees up to her chest. She buried her head in between her knees and sobbed.

Steve woke up to a scream. He sprung out of his bed and went running toward the cries. Robin had been sleeping over because her family was out of town and she didn't want to be alone, not after everything that happened at Starcourt. So she had stayed at Steve's in a guest bedroom down the hall and now she was scream-crying.

Steve ran to her and flung open the door. Robin was sitting up in her bed breathing heavily. She was sobbing and Steve ran to her.

"Steve!" Robin choked. Steve wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Robin hugged h back, clinging to Steve as she bawled.

"Robin, what's wrong?!" Steve rubbed hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her. Robin coughed. She pulled away from him slowly but Steve kept his arm around her as he sat next to her on the bed.

"What happened? You can tell me, " Steve asked her again. Robin sniffled and buried her face into his chest once more.

"Th-they were hurting y-you. And yo-you d-di-died. Steve! Th-they k-killed you!" Robin was scream-crying now, stuttering over her words in between sobs. Steve got the picture now, Robin had a nightmare.

"Shhh. It's okay. I'm right here, Rob. I'm alive, they didn't kill me, " Steve to calm her down. Robin's fingernails were digging into his back and Steve ran a hand through her hair.

After a few minutes of Steve shushing Robin and calming her down, Steve stood up and picked Robin up, her with him.

They sat down on the couch and Steve turned the TV on. Robin curled up into him while she sat in his lap.

"I know you're alive but it felt so real, " She mumbled, looking up at Steve with those big blue eyes. Steve's heart always melted looking at her like this, vulnerable and sad.

"I know, Rob, I know." Steve rubbed her arm gently. Robin nuzzled into him.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" Steve twirled a piece of her hair in his fingers. Robin was already starting to feel sleepy again. The TV played as background noise, some late-night game show.

"Yeah." Robin nodded. She closed her eyes then snapped them open again.

She looked up at Steve as he played with her hair. 

"Will you stay with me?" Her voice was small and Steve wanted to just hold her and block out all the pain.

"Of course, I'll be here when you wake up. Get some rest, Rob." Steve hugged her a little tighter with the arm he had wrapped around her. Robin smiled gently and laid her head against his chest.

She didn't have any more nightmares that night.


End file.
